Dead Fortress
by XxLiz2463xX
Summary: After the Florida Keys plan failed the Survivors set out to find a new sailboat.But it's not that easy in zombie world especially after they learn a company named BLU is in control of both CEDA and the military with a policy to kill any and all Carriers.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello people of FanFiction! Here I am to present a crossover of L4D & TF2! There aren't many stories over this crossover and I don't know why. I for one think it would be interesting to see how the mercs deal with the zombie apocalypse. So my friends (Who also came up with the title) and I wrote this!**

**Key notes: The first two chaps are L4D-centric, then it's TF2-centric, and then a combination of both. It's the RED and BLU team of 2009 (Or 2010. I don't know what year it is in the L4D universe.) The L4D2 Survivors will make an appearance in case you're wondering. And the story contains OCs.**

**Disclaimer: L4D and TF2 belong to Valve.**

**Edit: This story **_**is**_** an AU, I apologize for not informing you of this early on. And in this chapter you'll find that Luigi has a little friend with him, a puppy he and his brother found in my L4D story during the Death Toll campaign. Also, it has come to my attention that I put too much spotlight on the OCs and not on the Survivors. I apologize for that too, and while chapters **_**are**_** going to be in the OC's point of view, there will be ones featuring one of the Survivors. Take for example this re-edit of chapter one in Zoey's POV.**

**Enjoy!**

**(P.S. I **_**did**_** put spotlight on one OC, but only because she was the female OC I was talking about in my last author's note that will be replacing Rae, and I wanted to give you guys a taste of her to see if you will like her or not.)**

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><p><strong>Chapter 1<strong>

The sun dipped behind the horizon in a great ball of fire. Six figures crowded around a sleek, black Lexus. They had a good run with the car before it ran out of gas. A gruff biker with more art on his arms to combat a museum angrily kicked one of the tires.

"I hate cars." he announced.

Beside him, an old man clad in an army uniform and the group leader, rolled his eyes.

A young woman who enjoyed lifting the group's spirits with jokes pulled a notepad out of her pocket. "Cars," she echoed, jotting it down.

Next to her a soft-spoken, but positive business man leaned over to sneak a peek at the writing before shaking his head with a chuckle.

The biker glared at her. "What did you write about me, Zoey?"

"Relax, Francis." Zoey waved an absentminded hand. "I was bored, found a notepad and pen, and decided to write down all that you hate. See?" She held it up for him.

_All the things Francis hates by Zoey._

_1. Bill's plan_

Bill, the old war veteran, glowered at Francis who grinned sheepishly.

_2. Boat lawyers (Lolwhut?)_

_3. Cops (Even though he tells us to act like them whenever we meet people)_

"And for good reason too!" Francis defended himself. "People will do _anything_ for cops."

_4. Ellis's hat_

_5. Lady Gaga_

"I've never said I hate Lady Gaga, whoever that is!" Francis objected.

"Yeah, you did, when we were listening to _Alejandro_ in the car." piped up another young woman munching on a bag of Doritos. She had brown hair up in a messy ponytail, a light tan skin complexion, and brown eyes. She wore a dark blue shirt that had french fries saying "Bonjour" and a taco saying "Hola" on it, a cream colored scarf, a necklace with a red fox charm on it, gray skinny jeans, and black buckled lace up combat boots.

"Oh."

_6. Louis's good feelings_

"Hey!" Louis, the business man, exclaimed after reading this.

_7. Stairs (Bill hates these too)_

"Damn straight," Bill muttered underneath his breath.

_8. Teenagers_

_9. Cars_

Francis blinked. "Do I really hate all of that?" he asked in surprise.

"Yep," everyone answered simultaneously.

While the biker stood there stupefied for a minute, Bill decided to bring up the current situation. "Okay, people. Any ideas on what we should do?" he asked.

"Well," Zoey began before anybody else. "The car's not going to magically refill itself on its own. We're better off walking."

"She's got the right idea," Louis agreed. He turned to the girl. "Sabella, could you pop open the trunk?"

"Sure thing, Louis!" she chirped through a mouthful of Doritos, reaching into the car to tug at the latch.

Zoey glanced over toward the last and final member of the group. Luigi was a sixteen-year-old boy with wavy brown hair, fair-skinned, and had bright blue eyes. He wore a Super Mario Brothers shirt, jeans, and black Vans. He was on the ground rolling around a small ball for his black Labrador puppy he named Tycho to chase around. She heard him laugh softly while he wrestled with his pup for the ball. The former college student reached into the trunk to pull out a katana caked with dry blood.

"Here," Zoey placed the weapon down beside him. When Luigi thanked her with a simple nod of his head, she asked, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he murmured coolly without looking at her.

Zoey felt a bit stung by the tone of his voice. She knew they had a fallout back in Rayford, but one would think Luigi would've gotten over it by now. She decided not to press the matter anymore and retreated. While on her way to retrieve her hunting rifle, she felt a hand on her shoulder and turned around to see Bill.

"Give him time," he told her. "It must be hard for him after losing William."

A wave of grief washed over Zoey at his words.

After escaping Millhaven by train, they had come to a stop in a small Georgia town called Rayford. Bill was set on finding a sailboat so they could go to the Florida Keys and not have to deal with the Infected anymore. At the time, Zoey had been majorly against it, and she still was, but she begrudgingly went along with the plan. She knew the second her brown eyes fell on the bridge they'd have to raise to move a sailboat they found that it wouldn't end well. Neither of the Survivors had known just how fast luck would turn against them. A generator went out, stalling the bridge, and trapping them there while the biggest Horde they had ever faced rained down on them. To make matters worse, the Horde had been accompanied by four Tanks.

It was there, on that noisy bridge in that small town, where the Survivors had lost hope. Even _Louis's_ positive morale had been thrown out the window. Zoey just couldn't believe at how far she and her ragtag group had come only for all their struggles to end like that. Bill, on the other hand, had a different idea. She remembered watching from the corner of her eye as he lit a molotov with his cigarette and realized with a jolt that he was going to risk his life restarting the generator.

But it hadn't been Bill leaping down into the midst of the Horde and capturing three of the Tanks's attention. William had gone instead despite Bill's shock and Luigi's heart-wrenching wails for his big brother to stop. The seventeen-year-old hadn't listened and they eventually lost sight of him. When they had gone to bury him, they were shocked to discover his corpse was missing. After getting over their initial shock after the discovery, they had grieved greatly before leaving, but even after a couple of days had passed since the tragic incident, Bill was still feeling regretful and Luigi continued to mourn.

"Then it's a good thing you let him keep that puppy," Zoey said. "Tycho has kept him from grieving too much."

Bill merely nodded before raising his voice to inform the others that they needed to get going. Quickly grabbing her hunting rifle, she raced after her teammates until she fell in step beside Louis.

"I hate walking," Francis muttered.

"Walking," Zoey pulled out her notepad and wrote it down.

"Dammit, Zoey!"

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><p>Clouds flitted across the star-filled night sky, occasionally blocking light from the full moon. Bill peered out from behind a tree, shining his flashlight and illuminating the dirt road they were traveling down. A few Infected lingered here and there. Francis eagerly picked them off.<p>

"Come on," Bill gestured for his companions to move out.

The Survivors poured out from the trees with Bill leading and Francis guarding the rear. Sabella helped Louis along, his injured leg bothering him. They had to be extra cautious since the trees surrounding either side of the road provided good places for Infected to hide. Zoey gave a startled jump when growling filled the air. She turned around to see Luigi trying to shush Tycho, the black Labrador puppy glaring at something in the distance.

"Francis, look out!" Luigi suddenly shouted fearfully.

Francis whipped around just as a Hunter leaped out from the trees toward Francis. The biker dodged out the way while smacking the hooded creature in the face with the butt of his auto shotgun. It snarled as it staggered before quickly dropping back into a crouch. However, before it could pounce, bullets pierced its flesh. It toppled to one side and laid there motionless. Francis gave the corpse a satisfied kick before turning back to Luigi.

"Thanks for the warning."

"Don't thank me," Luigi smiled down at Tycho whose tail began bumping against his arm when he scratched his pet behind the ear. "Tycho was the one who knew the Hunter was there."

"He's like our little Special Infected alarm clock," Louis joked.

The others gave good-humored chuckles. Zoey picked up the pace until she was walking beside Sabella. The brown-haired woman was munching on another bag of potato chips; this time they were Lays Sour Cream and Onions. Feeling eyes on her, Sabella looked up at Zoey and looked down at her snack, looked up, down, up, down, up—

"It's fine, I don't want any." Zoey chuckled.

"Oh, good." sighed Sabella gratefully. "So what's up?"

"How long do you think Luigi's going to be like this?" Zoey asked, lowering her voice.

"I dunno," she answered truthfully before smiling. "Don't worry though. He should be back to his old self in no time!"

Zoey fell silent as she contemplated this while Sabella shoved a handful of chips into her mouth. Then after a while the college student spoke up.

"Do you have any idea where William's body went?"

Sabella paused mid chew, her face saddening. After swallowing, she replied, "It's hard to say. I highly doubt he was dragged off by an animal, and I don't think Infected eat each other. He may have turned."

"Then he might have humanity like their brother does!"

"If he did then why didn't he come find us?"

Oh. Zoey hadn't thought about that.

Sabella heaved a great sigh. "I'm not hungry anymore…" she murmured and rolled up the Lays bag before stuffing it into her backpack. She shot her fellow Survivor a sorrowful glance. "I'm tired of this." she whispered brokenly. "Why can't this just end?"

Her throat tightening, Zoey looked off into the trees, unable to meet Sabella's gaze. Neither talked, the silence only broken by the sounds of their feet crunching against the dirt road, grunting of Infected hidden somewhere in the coppice, crickets chirping, the occasional howl of a coyote, and leaves swaying in the wind.

"One day," Zoey began, her voice filled with conviction as she lifted her brown eyes up to stare at the stars. "I truly believe the world will go back to normal."


	2. Chapter 2

**Well hey guys I'm back with chapter 2. So... Review and all that good stuff. Oh, did I also mention that this is the sequel to my L4D story? If not, then yeah.**

**Also... Epic battle ahead.**

**Edit: My L4D story, Unexpected Circumstances, has been deleted so don't try looking those who are curious about it. I tried going back and editing it after finishing it, but I got so lazy and the chapters were everywhere that I eventually got rid of it altogether.**

**Anyway, enjoy this chapter dedicated to our favorite PEELZ loving man, Louis!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 2<strong>

The morning was gray and dreary. Louis gave a loud yawn while he stretched. They had spent the night in a tree house while taking turns keeping watch. Bill wanted them to leave as early as possible; the sun hadn't even been up yet. Now the Survivors found themselves standing around a picnic table littered with ammo, first-aid kits, grenades, and weapons. Ahead of them stretched a valley, and it wasn't one full of lush grass with flowers and rabbits hopping around. No. The grass was brown and brittle, a few scraggly bushes here and there. Not to mention the Common Infected wandering around. It genuinely looked depressing.

Louis stared at a hill silhouetted ominously against the gray sky. A shiver of fear crawled down his spine and he bleakly wondered if the ominous vibe he was feeling meant that something bad was going to happen. He shook his head.

_I've got to think positive,_ he told himself determinedly.

"From what I can see," Bill speaking caused the business man to turn his attention toward him, "all we have to do is get over that hill."

Zoey held up a hand. "Before we go," She strolled over to the table and picked up some ammo for her hunting rifle. "How about I snipe some heads first?"

"I'll help you," Sabella volunteered, readying her bow and arrow.

Bill gave his consent and the two girls wasted no time in picking off the Infected. Louis stumbled over to the picnic table, strapped on a first-aid kit, grabbed ammo for his assault rifle, and picked up a pipe bomb. With their combined efforts, Zoey and Sabella were able to get rid of the Common Infected. Louis headed off after Bill who was already making his way toward the hill with the others behind him. Sabella raced ahead of them to recover the arrows she had used.

"Let's go lady!" Francis called behind him.

Louis turned around to find that Luigi was nodding off. At the sound of the biker's gruff voice, the boy gave a startled jump before dumping the rest of the water in his water bottle over his head in hopes of waking up. He then raced over to join them with Tycho zipping along at his heels, murmuring an apology. Louis gave him a small smile. Luigi returned it before he frowned with worry.

"Are you okay?" he asked, nodding toward Louis' injured leg.

"I'm fine," he reassured. "It's just acting up a little bit."

"If you're sure…?"

"I am."

Luigi opened to his mouth to comment when Sabella strolled up.

"Here!" She pushed a package of powdered donuts into the brown-haired teen's face. "Breakfast! Maybe some sugar will wake you up."

Luigi blinked his bright blue eyes a few times before accepting the donuts. "Thank you," he said with a grateful smile.

She beamed. "Anytime!" she chirped before skipping off in Zoey's direction.

"I didn't think she'd be the morning person type," Louis commented.

"Yeah, me either, but hey, the more you know." Luigi tore open the package and helped himself to a mini powdered donut. He involuntarily moaned because damn, it had been too long since he had these. From the corner of his eye he saw Louis giving him a weird look and embarrassment flooded over him. "S-Sorry. Want one?" He held out the package.

"Don't mind if I do." Louis plucked one out and popped it into his mouth.

They fell silent as the Survivors continued their walk. Overall, it was going well. There were no Infected in sight. Louis gave a quiet sigh of relief. They were going to make it after all. Tycho suddenly zipped off toward a nearby flock of birds, tail wagging and barking excitedly. The birds all gave startled squawks as they flew up into the air to escape the puppy. This reminded Louis of the time he accidentally scared some blackbirds back when the group had been transferring through a cornfield toward a farmhouse where the military would pick them up.

Francis glared up at after them. "I hate birds," He then directed his glare down at Tycho. "And puppies."

Tycho lowered his head, ears, and tail at the comment, whimpering.

"I'm so sorry, guys." Luigi flushed in embarrassment. "I thought he'd learn by now."

Before anyone could comment, the bone chilling howl of an approaching Horde was heard. Common Infected poured out from the trees, sprinting toward them with inhuman speed and bloodlust gleaming in their empty yellow irises. The Survivors responded by opening fire and trying to take down as many as they can. They each knew that they needed to get over that hill as fast as possible because once the Infected had been alerted they would not stop coming until the Survivors were dead.

A loud bellow cut through the commotion, and Louis peered over his shoulder in time to see a Charger sprinting toward him. He squinted his eyes shut and braced himself for the impact before giving a gasp of surprise as Luigi pushed him out the way, taking the hit for him. He fell back on his ass and watched in shock as the Charger carried the boy off after seizing him in its massive arm. Tycho yelped in alarm while Francis chased after the Special Infected.

"Tycho, hide!" Louis commanded, not wanting the puppy getting in the way of their feet.

Tycho glanced between him and his master unsurely. The black Labrador then raced off to crawl underneath a thorn bush and peered out through the barbs at the action unfolding. Quickly getting to his feet and wincing when he applied too much pressure to his injured leg, Louis checked on Luigi's status. Francis had managed to kill the Charger and Luigi seemed fine if not a little beat up. Louis made a mental note to thank the boy for protecting him later as he turned his attention to the Infected trying to sneak up behind him.

"Watch out, guys!" Zoey shouted.

Louis barely had time to react as a green glop hit the ground where he was standing just before. He looked around for the Spitter, but Bill spotted it first and quickly disposed of it. The war veteran then turned to him, Luigi, and Sabella.

"You three head for the hill. Francis, Zoey, and I will hold them off for as long as we can."

"But—" Louis began to protest.

"There are too many Infected! You three could be easily overrun! At least let me help!" pleaded Sabella.

"Louis and I will be fine without her, I think." Luigi added more quietly.

Bill's nostrils flared in annoyance. "That wasn't a question that was an _order._"

Sabella opened her mouth, but before she could speak Louis placed a hand on her shoulder and shook his head. Now wasn't the time for arguing; they just needed to heed Bill's command. Louis knew the old man was just trying to look out for them. He also knew that because of his injured leg he wouldn't be able to do much. Luigi glanced between them, twiddling his thumbs nervously. Louis gave them a firm nod, and led the way toward the hill. Luigi followed without a word, but Sabella hesitated with a glance over at her fighting teammates. Her hesitation was enough for a Hunter to take advantage of.

"Get it off of me!" she screamed while trying to push it off her.

Before Louis or Luigi could react, Bill beat them to it. Sabella didn't meet his gaze as she got to her feet after he had disposed of the Hunter. Louis could see there was irritation written over the veteran's face for the teenager's recklessness.

"Thanks for that, Bill, and I'm sorry." she murmured.

Bill merely nodded before rejoining Francis and Zoey. While Louis and Luigi waited for Sabella to come over to them, Luigi spotted something that made his blood freeze. He made a weird choking sound in the back of his throat. Louis turned to him questioningly.

"What is it?"

"T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T—"

Louis was baffled. "Luigi, what's wrong?"

Sabella started shaking him. "Get a hold of yourself!"

"Two Tanks…" Luigi whispered.

"What?" Louis and Sabella asked at the same time.

The boy pointed at something behind them. "_Two_ Tanks."

They turned around, their jaws dropping.

"Are you fucking _kidding me?!_" Sabella shrieked.

"Shit! Look out!" Louis screamed at the others.

Two Tanks were quickly approaching. Bill, Francis, and Zoey were too busy fighting the Horde to notice the dangerous threat. With a punch, one of the Tanks made the picnic table soar into the air and crash mere inches past the three Survivors. They froze and turned to look at the two Special Infected.

"Fucking run!" Luigi screeched just as the Tanks spotted the Survivors and lumbered toward them with enraged roars.

He began helping Louis again while Sabella rushed over to help the others. Zoey managed to set one ablaze with her molotov. Bill and Francis dodged out the way as the one not on fire tried throwing a chunk of Earth at them. Louis bit his thumb as he watched the scene before him. The Tank on fire was chasing after Zoey who was shooting at it over her shoulder. Louis felt his eyes widen when she suddenly lost her footing on a puddle of blood and crashed to the ground.

"Zoey!" he cried while Luigi hoarsely whispered, "Oh no…"

The college student tried rolling out of the way as the Tank slammed down its massive fists. A high-pitched scream of agony ripped from her throat when one of the fists struck her right leg. Bill and Francis, who were flanking the other Tank, looked over at the sound of her cry. Taking advantage of their distraction, their adversary threw a punch at Francis. The biker grunted with pain as he was sent flying back. Sabella had tried going over to help Zoey, but a small number of Common Infected were stopping her. A small black blur zipped by in the same instant. It was Tycho. The puppy circled around the Tank's legs, nipping at its heels and barking at it. The Tank was momentarily distracted and Zoey was able to crawl away with Louis limping over as fast as he could to assist her.

"Zoey, how bad is it?" he asked worriedly.

"I think it's broken," she gasped with pain as Louis helped her to stand on her good leg.

He bit his lip. "Shit, this ain't good."

"Let's hurry, I don't think Tycho will be able to distract that Tank any longer." Zoey said. "How are Bill and Francis handling the other one?"

Louis glanced over. The two were still locked in combat with it, but this time Sabella was fighting beside them. The three were dodging around the Tank's attacks. Louis could tell it was getting frustrated as it swiveled its head back and forth, trying to figure out which one to pummel first. He opened his mouth to tell her that they were managing, but a startled yell caught their attention. Their heads whipped up in alarm. Luigi had been ensnared by the throat by a Smoker and being attacked by Infected that had heard his yell.

Louis cursed, forgetting that he had up and left the boy when he saw that Zoey needed help.

"Duck!" Zoey suddenly hissed.

He did so, just as a slab of Earth sailed over their heads. He cursed again. The Tank on fire had noticed their retreat and was ignoring Tycho in favor of chasing after them.

"Francis!" he called.

The biker glanced over in his direction.

"A Smoker has Luigi!"

Nodding, Francis raced off to go help the teenager who let out another yell. Louis and Zoey focused on getting away from the beast chasing them as fast as they could in their condition. From the corner of his eye, Louis spotted Bill and Sabella coming to help them after finally taking care of the other Tank. Because a majority of the damage inflicted upon it came from the molotov, it only took a couple of bullets for the second Tank to be taken down. After getting rid of the remaining Common Infected in the area, the Survivors were able to take a breather. Louis furrowed his eyebrows, shaking his assault rifle. He repeated the action for a couple of more seconds before looking at his teammates in frustration.

"I'm out of ammo!" he informed.

Francis spoke before anyone else could. "Why don't you just go get some—oh yeah. Never mind." the biker trailed off, just now realizing what had become of the ammo. "Sucks for you then."

Louis glared, but before he could make a sharp retort Zoey threw her hunting rifle onto the ground. "Mine's out too!" she announced unhappily.

Bill frowned and checked his assault rifle before he too discarded it. Luigi and Sabella followed suit.

Francis spotted an Infected running toward them and happily shot its head off with his auto shotgun before dropping it. The biker then pulled out his dual pistols and began aiming them around randomly.

"Are we going to move or not?" he demanded, looking expectantly at the hill. "I don't know about you guys, but I want to finally get out of this nightmare."

He then proceeded to stare dumbfounded when everybody else walked past him to the hill during his words. Francis grumbled something under his breath and chased after his teammates, taking up the rear. It seemed strangely quiet and there weren't any Infected to be seen except for the occasional Special Infected, but they were quickly taken care of. Louis noticed that Luigi was constantly rubbing at his throat. Worried, he limped over to quietly ask the teen what was wrong, wincing when he saw the angry red marks on the boy's throat. Luigi shot him a look full of distress, but didn't say a word which confused Louis.

Surely the bright blue-eyed boy could talk, right?

When Louis tipped his head to the side questioningly, Luigi just shook his head sadly before directing his gaze to the front again. Louis didn't press the matter, focusing on their surroundings once again. Before the six Survivors knew it, they had made it to the foot of the hill. Louis sighed with relief. Bill looked happy as he began making the first steps upward only to pause suddenly and skitter back down. This confused the others as they exchanged glances with one another at the look of pure horror written over the war veteran's face. He looked like he had just seen a ghost.

"What's wrong with… Holy shit." Francis began to ask only to trail off as the biggest Horde—bigger than the one back at Rayford—the group had ever seen came rushing over the top of the hill.

"We can't fight against that many Infected with just pistols!" Sabella wailed.

Luigi had grown pale, griping the handle of his katana so tightly his knuckles turned white.

Louis was freaking out. "Oh shit, SHIT, _SHIIIT_!" he screamed with fear. "What do we do?!"

Bill was trying to calm them down. "Relax, people, relax!" he shouted above the screeching of the oncoming Horde. "I'll think of a plan, you just have to calm down."

Zoey's eyes never left the Horde as she addressed him. "Hurry, they're getting close."

Eyebrows furrowing, Bill crossed his arms and looked down at the ground as he tried to come up with a plan. While this was happening, the other Survivors decided to take out as many of Infected as they could with their dual pistols. When three minutes passed and the old man hadn't spoken yet, Zoey took it upon herself to yell at him.

"Bill! They're getting closer!"

The words sent his head snapping up and he fixed his blue eyes on his comrades determinedly. "Francis, do you have that bile bomb on you?" When Francis nodded he turned to Louis. "Still have that pipe bomb, Louis?"

"Sure do." Louis replied and held it up.

"Good, and I have my molotov. On a count of three, I want us to throw them in different directions. After that, haul ass and shoot. Got it?" Bill explained and when everyone nodded he turned to face the Horde. "1…"

Francis cocked his arm back with his hand gripping tightly onto the jar with the green liquid sloshing around inside.

"2…"

The Horde was literally upon them now.

"3!"

"Fight amongst yourselves ya damn vampires!" Francis shouted as he threw his bile bomb and it exploded on a male Common Infected unlucky enough to be in the way.

Louis threw his pipe bomb on the left flank of the Horde. "Grenade!"

After Bill threw his molotov onto the right flank, Louis helped Zoey hobble up the hill. Francis bounded over and offered to carry Zoey on his back. She accepted the biker's help with a grateful nod. Sabella rejoined Louis's side and covered his left while Louis covered the girl's right. Luigi raced past with Tycho at his heels, slicing up any Infected that got too close to them. Bill still lingered behind, but picked up his pace until he had caught up to them, shooting over his shoulder at the Infected chasing after them.

An angry shout from ahead made them turn their heads in the direction it came from. At the very top of the hill Francis wrestled with a Jockey while Zoey lay on the ground in pain. While trying to get the Special Infected off of him, the biker lost his footing and disappeared over the hill.

"Francis!" Louis raced forward, ignoring the pain in his leg, until he was skidding to a halt at the top. He watched as Francis and the Jockey tumbled into a river none of them had known was there. He turned his head over toward Zoey who was being swarmed and attacked by Infected. She shot at them with little success and was shouting to get their attention. Bill was quick to answer her call.

"Come on, Louis, I'll help you." Sabella told him.

When Luigi finally spoke, he sounded horrible. His voice was hoarse and barely more than a whisper. On top of that he was having a hard time getting the words out and his face would scrunch up with pain from the effort. Louis concluded that Luigi's throat had been damaged due to the pressure from the Smoker's tongue, to what extent he didn't know. He hoped it wasn't anything too serious.

"I… C-Cover… Best I can." Luigi told them solemnly.

Louis nodded. He and Sabella carefully picked their way down the hill. Luigi wasn't too far away from them, taking down any Infected that got too close to the pair and keeping a careful eye out for Special Infected. Louis glanced behind him, seeing Bill and Zoey catching up to them. Reaching the river's edge and staring into its fast-flowing current, they wondered how they were going to get past this obstacle. Louis's head jerked up when he heard splashing and looked over in the direction. Francis was farther downstream, swimming strongly against the torrent and seemingly fine after his fiasco with the Jockey. Louis silently thanked God that Francis was okay.

"It's not as bad as it looks," the biker called over after pulling himself up onto the bank. "Trust me!"

"Right. Louis are you going to be able to manage?" Bill asked him.

The business man nodded. "I'll be fine."

Suddenly Luigi tried shouting something, but he couldn't get out what he was trying to tell them. He shook his head in frustration before waving his arms and pointing at something. They turned around to see that a Charger and Hunter decided to make an appearance. The Hunter bunched its muscles and took a mighty leap. The Survivors immediately threw themselves on the ground. A sound of confusion left the Hunter's lips as it flew over them and landed into the water with a loud _splash!_ They watched it flounder in the current then disappear underneath the waves and not resurface. A bellow from the Charger brought them back to the current situation and Louis cursed when he saw that it was headed straight for him. Bracing himself, he took in a deep breath before diving into the river. The icy shock of it took his breath away; he wasn't expecting it to be _that_ cold.

As his head broke the surface he gasped in air, managing to stay afloat as he was swept downstream. Blinking water from his eyes, he frantically looked around for his teammates. He spotted Bill and Sabella swimming along with Zoey, keeping an iron grip on the college student so they wouldn't lose her. Luigi was not far from them with Tycho splashing confidently beside him. Louis gave a sudden cry of surprise when something heavy slammed into him. Briefly disoriented, he began swimming around in circles, but was soon snapping out of it. He looked behind him to see what had hit him and saw two things, one being the Charger's corpse rolling around in the current and two being a tree root sticking out over the river. Kicking out strongly and minding the dull throbbing in his bad ankle, he reached out to grasp the root and use it to pull himself out the river.

Louis spread himself out eagle style on the ground once he was out of the water. He closed his eyes while trying to catch his breath. He began to shiver violently and that was enough to get him to struggle to his feet. The others were experiencing the same chill as he was and were huddling together in a feeble attempt to warm themselves.

The business man gave a tired sigh.

If the Infected didn't get to them first then it was going to be of hypothermia.

_How much longer can we go on?_


	3. Chapter 3

**ZOMGWTFBBQ! 2 (Or 3) months have passed since I last updated this? F-ing school getting in the way of everything. But since co-author and I have free time, here's Ch. 3!**

**And Bill is, in fact, alive in this story even though the story takes place after The Passing. His death is a lie. Like the cake. (Or I WISH it was…)**

**Edit: Just a head's up, but this chapter is going to be split into two POVs. The first one is going to be Bill's, and then it's going to be Luigi's. Also, if you're wondering about why the Survivors are freezing their asses off it's winter time in this story, so I'm going to say late November, early December. And since the Survivors _did_ just have a swim they're going to be stuttering a lot, so I hope you guys are okay with that. Lastly, there are going to be parts in this chapter where it's bolded, and that's because this is indicating when Luigi is writing in a journal Medic gives him since his throat is temporarily messed up.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3<strong>

"Noooooooooooo! My foooooooooood!" Sabella cried dramatically, down on her knees by the river with her hands ruffling her hair. "My precious foooooood!"

The other Survivors stared at their overdramatic comrade for a little bit before averting their gaze. Ahead of them stretched a desert landscape for as far as the eye could see. Bill even swore he saw a tumbleweed roll by. A silence hung over them while the group of six pondered on what to do next. Finally, Zoey spoke up.

"W-Why d-didn't w-we g-go t-to t-the F-Florida K-Keys a-again?"

"B-Because F-Francis d-doesn't k-know h-how t-to m-move a-a b-boat." Louis answered, hugging himself tightly.

"H-Hey!" Francis snapped.

"E-Enough!" Bill raised his voice above theirs. "L-Let's g-get a-a m-move o-on b-before h-hypothermia m-makes u-us k-kick t-the b-bucket."

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement. They didn't even take two steps into the new area when an angry shout stopped them.

"Hands in the air Carriers!" The voice of a soldier.

"C-Can't w-we g-get a-a b-break f-for f-fucking o-once?" Francis grumbled, raising his hands with the others and turning around.

Bill narrowed his eyes. "W-What t-the h-hell d-do y-you b-bastards w-want? W-We're n-not h-hurting a-anyone." He silently cursed his shaky voice, but it couldn't be helped.

Each of the soldiers were wearing scavenged gear as well as gas masks, the same attire as the ones back at Millhaven. What those soldiers hadn't been wearing was an emblem, a blue rectangle with a wrench inside and the letters B. L. U.

One of the soldiers, presumably the leader, snorted and advanced. "Liar. You've been running around spreading this goddamn flu. You Carriers are worse than the damn zombies!"

"I-If t-that's t-the c-case t-then l-let u-us g-go. W-We're n-not g-going a-anywhere n-near t-the n-non-immune." Bill responded, trying to make his voice sound as calm as possible.

The leader simply laughed and drew even nearer. "You don't fool us. You might have screwed over the outpost, but we ain't making that mistake. Besides, CEDA's got rewards for Carriers. They figure they can use you creeps for a cure or something, and I'm not turning down a cold one when I can get it."

He suddenly struck out before Bill could react, smashing his gun against the older man's face. The other soldiers followed suit, descending upon the Survivors viciously. Francis managed to land a few blows before getting knocked out. Truly the man had no luck when it came to the military. Bill could only watch helplessly as the others were easily overwhelmed, with no weapons to defend themselves and weakened because of their fight with the Horde and swim across the river. Sabella was struggling violently against the soldier who had apprehended her while snarling at him to "Get your fucking hands off me!" Louis had pushed Zoey behind him protectively and Luigi was crouched on the ground hugging Tycho close to his chest while being held at gunpoint.

Bill vainly struggled against the lead soldier, but couldn't shake him off. _Help them, don't just lay there! You already failed William are you going to fail them too? You really are a useless old bastard._

_Bang!_

The soldier pointing his gun at Luigi suddenly stiffened, a grunt escaping him as he dropped to the ground dead, a freshly-made bullet hole now in his head. Everyone stared at the corpse in shock before Bill looked around in confusion; none of his fellow Survivors had fired the shot. The soldiers were just as confused if not panicking.

"Who the hell just shot?" one of them demanded and swung his gun around while keeping his grip on Sabella, the young woman grimacing but too tired to struggle some more. He too became victim to the unknown attacker.

_These soldiers are really incompetent. _Bill thought to himself. _You'd think they would at least try to find cover?_

Soldier after soldier fell, each shot perfectly in the head and not a single off target. Soon all that was left was the leader. He seemed to be in utter panic.

"Who's there? Show yourself!" he demanded, pointing his gun down at Bill. "I'll kill him if you don't—" He was cut off when a baseball abruptly struck him in the head, dazing him.

"Nice catch, chucklenuts! Now catch dis!" a voice shouted clearly with a Boston accent, belonging to a wiry man with a bat in hand, practically flying over to the dazed man and smashing the bat into his head, sending him to the ground out cold.

The Survivors merely stared at the newcomer, blinking with awe, before swiveling their attention down toward Francis when a groan left the biker's mouth as he came back to consciousness. Luigi crawled over to help steady him when Francis slowly sat up, a hand on his head. Tycho pawed at the man's leg with a worried whimper.

"I-I'm f-fine," Francis reassured them when he saw their anxious expressions. "H-Honestly."

"B-Bill?" Louis questioned.

He nodded, getting to his feet. "D-Don't w-worry a-about m-me. W-What a-about y-you?"

"W-We're f-fine, r-right, Z-Zoey?" Louis glanced over at said college student who nodded with agreement.

"I-I'm okay too," Sabella announced.

Luigi didn't say anything, and gave them a thumbs-up instead.

Turning back to the newcomer, Bill tipped his beret to him.

"T-Thanks. W-We o-owe y-you o-one." he said gratefully.

The young man chuckled, resting the bat on his shoulder. "Hey, don't mention it. My pleasure ta beat dose BLU-tards any day."

"Sorry to say mate, but you only knocked out that one." spoke another voice.

A tall and lean man walked up to join them. He sported aviators, a leather hat decorated with teeth**, **and a sniper rifle slung over his shoulder. Judging from the accent in his voice, he was Australian. The Survivors then noticed that both men were wearing red.

"Psh. Whatevah." the other one retorted, rolling his eyes. "Speakin' of, ya think Soldier's gonna want ta grill this chump?"

His companion only nodded, prompting the Bostonian to drag away the dizzy assailant. Zoey watched them go before piping up.

"W-Well, i-if i-it's n-not I-Infected t-trying t-to k-kill u-us i-it's f-freezing t-to d-death, a-and i-if i-it's n-not t-that t-then i-it's t-the m-military." she stated. "A-And F-Francis, h-haven't y-you l-learned e-enough b-back a-at M-Millhaven?"

The biker held his chin up defiantly. "W-Whatever."

The Australian grimaced when he saw the state they were in. "You guys look pretty roughed up. We got some medical supplies to spare if you'd like."

Bill perked up at this. "F-First-aid?" he echoed. "W-We n-need t-that m-more t-than y-you c-can b-believe."

"A-And s-some w-warm b-blankets a-and h-hot c-cocoa…" Sabella paused. "W-With m-marshmallows i-in i-it." Another pause. "P-Please."

The man chuckled, beginning to walk off and motioning for them to follow. "I'll see what I can do."

The Survivors exchanged glances, the question of if they could fully trust the two men went unspoken. Finally, Bill headed off after him. What other choice did they have? They had no idea where they were and if they didn't find some kind of help soon they would surely succumb to hypothermia. Francis was soon behind him carrying Zoey piggy-back style with the others following. Louis insisted he'd manage, but they could see how badly he was limping. Luckily, all that stood between him and first-aid was a hill. Irony was a bitch sometimes. The sniper wielding man fell back and helped the former business man along.

Maybe their luck was finally looking up?

* * *

><p>"Maggot! You <em>will<em> answer my question!"

"Fuck you, Carrier!"

As the group approached a truck, a rather heated argument reached them. The Australian let out an exhausted groan.

"Dammit, should've said no." he muttered to himself before addressing the Survivors. "Just ignore it if you can."

The source of the shouting belonged to the military leader and a man with an army helmet covering his eyes and grenades strapped to his jacket. The helmet-wearing man started shouting again.

"Listen, twinkle-toes! You _will_ comply with me! This is your last chance!" He grabbed the leader, yanking him up to eye level. "Where—?" He stopped when the leader brought his knee into his chest, freeing himself. Scrambling away, he flipped the bird back at the group and laughed. "You goddamn spineless maggot!"

Furious, the man suddenly had a rocket launcher on his shoulder. The trigger was pulled, a rocket bursting out of the gun and right at the escapee. The leader only had time to glance back before the explosive met its mark, a bloody mess the only thing left.

A whistle escaped Francis' lips, part of him seriously impressed and the other part freaking out. "D-Damn."

"D-Did y-you _s-see_ t-that?" Sabella whispered to Louis.

"H-Holy s-shit!" the business man breathed.

Both Luigi and Tycho tipped their heads to one side, their eyes wide.

"Wish we had one of 'em whenever there was a Tank." Bill muttered.

"I hear that!" Zoey agreed.

"It certainly helps against those bastards." the helmet-wearing man noted. He seemed to have calmed down a bit, although his tone was still pretty loud. He then snapped to attention, saluting. "Soldier, Scout, and Sniper of the RED team at your service."

The mentioned REDs both gave their own salutes as well. This earned raised eyebrows from the group of six.

"U-Uhh… I-I'm B-Bill," The war veteran gestured to his companions beside him. "T-This i-is F-Francis, L-Louis, L-Luigi, S-Sabella, a-and Z-Zoey. W-We're t-the… S-Survivor t-team."

Soldier snorted. "RED's an anagram, stands for Reliable Excavation Demolition. We're mercenaries… _Were_ mercenaries." he trailed off, looking away. "Anyway, I'm guessing you're all in need of some supplies?"

"Y-Yes, w-we a-are." Bill said. "I-If y-you c-can s-spare t-them t-that i-is."

The mercenary nodded, heading to the back of the truck to retrieve the supplies. Luigi wandered toward Sniper and gazed up at him through round bright blue eyes.

"Are…" He grimaced, rubbing at his throat. "A-Australian?"

"That I am, mate." Sniper responded, tipping his hat. "I am one hundred percent Aussie."

A huge smile adorned the teenager's face, his eyes shining. "C-Cool!"

Sniper then frowned. He swept his gaze over the Survivors, taking in account their numerous injuries and freezing state. "Soldier," he called over to the man. "I don't think just giving them supplies is gonna cut it."

Scout hopped down from the truck's hood, raising an eyebrow. "Doc could probably fix 'em up. He did for dat other guy, and he was _way_ worse."

"W-What o-other g-guy?" Zoey curiously asked.

Bill walked over. "S-Save t-the q-questions f-for l-later, Z-Zoey." He ignored her glare and continued. "I-I s-say w-we t-try t-that d-doctor S-Scout m-mentioned." He glanced over at Soldier. "W-Would t-that b-be o-okay w-with y-you?"

Soldier scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Well, we don't enough room in the truck, so you'll have to ride in the back." he told them.

"W-We c-can d-do t-that, n-no p-problem."

He nodded. "Alright. Let's get a move on then."

* * *

><p>"Holy shit, she was hot!" Scout declared, leaning back as the truck rumbled on and propping his feet up.<p>

"Keep it in your pants!" Soldier spat back, not tearing his eyes away from the dry wasteland.

The Bostonian scowled. "I still don't see why we're goin' through all da trouble ta help dese people. We ain't Samaritans ya know!"

Soldier didn't respond this time and spared a glance at the Survivors in the rearview mirror, his face falling slightly at the sight of them huddled together and shivering as they were buffeted by the wind.

"Ya gonna freakin' answer me or—"

"Scout. Shut up." Sniper interrupted from the passenger's seat, glaring at the younger man.

"Whatevah."

The three said no more on the matter as they drove down the dusty remnants of what may have been a road at one point, a large basin soon on the horizon.

* * *

><p>A cooing noise was what woke up Luigi up. His eyes involuntarily squinted against the harsh lights above him before growing used to it after a heartbeat or so. He looked around in a daze and his hands fisted into the cot he was lying on. The room he was in looked like a hellish infirmary. Decorating the pale walls were slightly faded bloodstains, as if they haven't come out all the way. His eyes drifted over to a table where he found a nice little trinket of medical tools and shivered at the mere sight of them.<p>

_Where the hell am I? _the teen asked himself, starting to panic. The cooing sound continued, and he realized that it was right by his ear. He groggily turned his head to the side only to come face-to-face with beady black eyes. He released a startled yelp, watching through wide eyes as the dove flew away from its perch on his shoulder.

"Archimedes, behave!" a voice shouted after the bird, followed by more cooing. "Birds… Ah. He is avake. Good."

The voice belonged to a thin, glasses-wearing man. He wore a light red doctor's uniform with two red rubber gloves over his hands. There was a certain degree of malice behind his eyes, his smile rather wicked.

"Gutentag, fräulein!" the man greeted, adjusting his glasses.

_Fräulein?_ Luigi wondered. "Who… Are y-you?"

The man smirked, rising to his feet. "I am ze doctor of ze team. Call me Medic or Herr Doctor if you are so inclined." He took a bow as he introduced himself, waving his hand about dramatically.

"O-Okay. Where…" The brown-haired teen rubbed at his throat as it started to burn. "…am I?"

"You are currently in ze RED base of Badwater Basin. Population… Twenty." the German replied.

"My… Friends?"

"Taking showers I believe," He fixed Luigi with a curious look. "It's interesting, you bear some resemblance to ze last one brought here."

Luigi tipped his head to one side. "W-What are… Are you… Talking about?"

The man studied Luigi for a few more moments before turning away and muttering a quick, "One moment." Without another word, the RED left the room, the door quietly swinging shut. _You bear some resemblance to ze last one brought here._ Medic's words rang in his head. The teen scratched his head while wondering what the doctor meant by that.

Minutes passed. Every so often he would hear noises from outside the infirmary, but none of it sounded like the doctor. The silence was broken when the door reopened, the squeaking of a wheelchair filling the room. The RED slowly rounded the corner to the bed, pushing a very battered and broken figure. Gauze was wrapped around the person's head and their left hand was bandaged as well and, if Luigi looked closely, there were even bandages wrapped around their torso. The person's leg—or maybe both of their legs—was broken if their only way of getting around was a wheelchair.

"He is your brother, I presume." Medic quietly noted, standing by the wheelchair.

Tears pooled at the edge of Luigi's vision as he stared at the newcomer. He whimpered, not able to bring himself to say the name. William smiled weakly at him.

"Hey, Luigi." he murmured.

He burst out crying at the sound of his name. "You're alive!" he sobbed.

Medic wheeled the older teen closer to the cot before heading back to his chair, watching with what may have been interest of some kind.

William grabbed one of his brother's hands. "Yeah, I'm alive. I'm here, so everything's going to be okay now. You don't have to cry anymore." he consoled.

Luigi tried to stop, he really did, but the tears kept on coming until they finally dissolved into sniffles. He accepted the tissue Medic handed him with a grateful nod. After wiping away his tears and blowing his nose, he indulged his older brother in small talk. He learned that William had fooled the Tanks by playing dead, but soon succumbed to unconsciousness. When he came to, he managed to drag himself back to the safe room and rest. He then went on to explain that he came back to the bridge to regroup with them, but when he arrived there was no one there.

Luigi frowned at that, and opened his mouth to comment, but he couldn't get any words out. Wailing at the top of his lungs did a number on his throat. Sensing this, Medic rummaged around in a cupboard before producing a pen and notebook.

"No more talking," he told the brown-haired teen. "Rest your throat."

Nodding in understanding, Luigi wasted no time in writing in his journal before holding it out for William to see.

**I knew I should've looked for you instead of helping Coach, Ellis, Nick, and Rochelle.**

William tipped his head curiously. "Who're they?"

**These new Survivors we met. They wanted us to lower the bridge so they could get their car past. When they left we found a car of our own and drove of out Georgia—that was the state we were in.**

"What happened to the Florida Keys?" William asked.

**Francis forgot to move the boat.**

Chuckling, the dark blue-eyed teen commented, "Why doesn't that surprise me."

Luigi then went on to explain how they were finally rid of Duke, the humanity-holding Hunter who was hell-bent on killing them and how his band of other humanity-holding Special Infected retreated after the death of their leader. William was thrilled at the news, growing even more excited when he found out that his own little brother had been the one to kill Duke. However, what he didn't know was that Luigi was lying when he told him that he killed the Hunter by stabbing him with his katana. Luigi wasn't comfortable yet with telling his brother how he succumbed to the Hunter strain of the virus pulsing through his veins during his fight with Duke and how he nearly turned, only snapping out of it when his twin brother, Dylan, backhanded him across the face.

_Never let the Hunter strain of the virus surface,_ his twin had warned. _Because if you turn, you won't hold on to your humanity like we do._

He was brought out of his trouble thoughts when William asked how their brother's condition was.

**He and the others still had humanity when we ran into them in Rayford. I don't know where they went after they helped us. Anyway, how did you end up here?**

"Ah. I don't really remember much. When I found out that you all had left, I did the same. I didn't know where I was going, but it beat staying there waiting to die. The only weapon I had was a fire axe I found, and let me tell you, that thing got me through a lot of shit. The last thing I remember was following a road and I guess I must have passed out, because when I woke up I was at the base being healed by Medic. Everything still hurts, but I'm fine now."

Luigi looked at Medic. "Thank… You."

The RED shrugged nonchalantly as if it wasn't a big deal. "It is my job as a doctor." He chuckled, glancing at William. "I remember how we found you... Broken bones, severe blood loss, trauma, several chipped teeth..." He stopped, clearing his throat nervously. "Sorry."

William shrugged. "Shit happens."

Luigi quickly wrote something down in his journal and held it up.

**You didn't have to go and restart the generator.**

His brother sighed heavily. "I couldn't stand there and let my family die," he began. "This damn Infection already took my younger brother and best friend away from me, and I'd be damned if I let it take anyone else that I love. And…" He paused, collecting himself before continuing. "And I know Bill wanted to be the one to go down there, but I couldn't—_wouldn't_ let him. You and the others needed him. He was our leader. He saw us through a lot of shit, even if sometimes his actions were questionable. Now I'm glad I was the one leaping off that bridge; without him, you wouldn't have known what to do after failing to move the boat before helping those other Survivors."

Luigi said nothing. It was better that William never found out how much Bill regretted letting the teen go off in his place. The door began opening, catching their attention. In lumbered quite possibly the largest man Luigi had ever seen in his life.

Luigi's eyes widened while William simply said, "Hi Heavy."

The large man beamed at the young man, nodding. "Ah, comrade William! I vas wondering where you were." He then noticed Luigi, raising an eyebrow. "And who might this be?"

"This is my little brother, Luigi." William introduced. "He can't talk right now because his throat got messed up."

Not being able to talk didn't stop Luigi from waving.

The bald man stared for a moment before waving back, smiling. "Hello, new comrade Luigi!"

Medic coughed, getting the other RED's attention. "Yes doktor?"

"Heavy, vhat are you here for?" the German questioned, a tired patience on his face.

Heavy scratched his head, thinking about it. "Mmm... I do not remember now." He shrugged sheepishly. "I can have a hint?"

Medic sighed, getting to his feet. "Heavy, just do me a favor. Go get Soldier."

"Da. I vill do this." He turned to leave, glancing at Luigi one more time and offered a rather child-like smile.

**He's… Interesting.** Luigi wrote for William to read after the Russian left.

"Heavy's a good man and an interesting source of conversation. Just don't piss him off."

**Medic, why did you tell Heavy to go get Soldier?** Luigi asked curiously.

"He wanted to know when you were finally conscious is all. Und speaking of ze Infection," the man began, referring back to the previous conversation the brothers were having. "I hate zhose Spitter things. So unsanitary." His face scrunched up a bit at the thought of the disgusting green goo-launchers. "They're as bad as zhose Boomers."

"Fuck Boomers!" William suddenly raged, slightly startling Medic. "I swear to God, I'll kill every single one of them!"

The teen's hatred of Boomers stemmed all the way back to Riverside when Crazy Church Guy—now turned Boomer—vomited all over him when he opened the safe room door. Ever since then William was always being puked on, and he firmly believed that Crazy Church Boomer had put a curse on him much to the exasperation of his teammates.

Luigi held up his hand to temporarily pause the conversation as he scribbled something down. **How come Medic knows about the Special Infected when those soldiers back at Millhaven didn't even know they existed?**

"We have all encountered ze Infected at one point or another. Disgusting, unsanitary..." The RED grimaced, displeased with the fact. "Of course, we are all immune ourselves, so I suspect that gives us an advantage."

The bright blue-eyed boy tugged on a piece of his hair. **Have you encountered any humanity-holding Special Infected?**

"Do you mean sentient or still behaving as they did pre-Infection?" The man questioned, eyebrow raised.

"Behaving as they did pre-Infection," William answered. "They're more intelligent, can talk, and still feel emotions. They also slowly lose their grip on humanity as the virus takes more hold on their bodies."

The man raised an eyebrow, wiping off his glasses. "I have never encountered such cases... It almost sounds preposterous, to be honest." He paused, tapping a finger. "Although, if I remember correctly, Heavy said he ran into something like zhat. Whether or not this is true, I know not."

"Did he tell you what kind of Infected it was?" William interrogated. "Was it a Smoker, Witch, Boomer, Hunter, Tank, Spitter, Jockey, or Charger? Does he know its name, or what color the hair was?"

Medic's brows furrowed. "Vhat difference does it make?"

William opened his mouth to speak when a voice spoke up. Glancing over, they saw that Soldier had arrived.

Medic rose from his seat, nodding to Soldier. "Well, I need to go take care of a few things so I will leave you three for now."

The German then took his leave, brushing past the other RED, the door closing behind him. The man made his way to the chair Medic had just been in, seating himself.

"Glad to see you're finally awake."

Luigi smiled, but said nothing.

"Medic told him not to talk," explained William.

The man nodded, rising to his feet and began pacing back and forth. "Since you're here, you may as well be informed as to what's going on and why you got attacked like that."

Luigi perked up, listening closely.

"Alright. First things first, you heard me say that we were mercenaries, right?"

The teen nodded.

"Good. Now, we work for RED like I said. Our job was to solve their problems that their frilly paper-pushers couldn't." He grimaced. "Those problems were almost always BLU, or Builders League United. Just like RED, they control at least half of the world's governments. And also just like RED, they hired their own team of mercenaries." At this he withdrew a photograph, handing it over to Luigi. "We've been fighting against these bastards for years, generation after generation. And now... Now there's nothing to fight for. Both companies have all but collapsed, and anything left of ours is now under the control of the Administrator, our, well, administrator." He paused, eyeing the teens. "You keeping up so far?"

"So what you're telling me is that first there's a zombie apocalypse and now I found out that two teams of mercenaries control half of the world's governments?" William echoed. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Jesus Christ what next?"

**How come their Soldier and Medic look just like you two?** Luigi wrote in his journal. **Are they your clones or something?**

"To be honest, we don't know either." Soldier addressed Luigi first, peering at the picture as well. "But if you look closely, there are some differences between us. For example, I'm about an inch shorter than the BLU Soldier, but I'm wider than he is." He then turned to William. "It gets better. How about the fact that the BLUs are the ones who ordered those guys to attack your brother and the others? Or that they're now in full control of CEDA and most of the military?"

"_What?!_ How?"

Luigi didn't reply, but he looked shocked.

Nodding gravely, Soldier continued. "They got control over them through a certain set of documents, some money, and a good deal of propaganda to get everyone worked up about Carriers." His face darkened, lips curving into a scowl. "Believe me when I say they take advantage of every moment. Anyone they don't like, anyone who tries to fight back, Carrier or not, they get labeled as one and everyone descends on them. It's a tyranny; plain and simple."

"What can we do about this?" William questioned.

Soldier grunted, shaking his head. "Nothing, to be completely honest. My boys and I are the only ones who will be able to get this done." He grimaced. "Or die trying. But I will not put anyone else in harm's way." Pushing himself to his feet, he began to pace the room. "We can offer you a place to stay until you're all one hundred and ten percent, if you'd like a place where you won't have to worry about those goons coming after you."

"I w-want to… Help!" Luigi suddenly blurted out, ignoring the sting in his throat. "I can d-do it! I… I'm not c-completely… Useless!"

Pausing mid-step, the man chuckled a bit and turned to face the teen. "Heh, I like your attitude." He returned to the bedside, not bothering to take a seat this time. "But this is war. We're fighting trained bastards here, not the Infected that you're used to." He held up a hand. "Now don't get me wrong, fighting those undead-maggots isn't a walk in the trench either. You've had to have beaten plenty of skulls in to have lasted as long as you have. Besides, it might be something you would want to discuss with your group. You join us, there ain't going back."

Luigi furrowed his eyebrows, not replying and staring down at his lap.

"Mull it over a bit. I'll be back, gonna check to see if the food's ready. Don't know about you, but I'm starving."

That said, he left the infirmary, leaving the two brothers alone. William glared at Luigi the second Soldier was out of sight.

"Are you stupid or what?" he hissed.

"What… Did I… D-Do?"

"Telling Soldier that you want to help. You don't know anything about these people!"

Luigi returned his glare, furiously writing in his notebook. **I do know that they helped us from those soldiers, and that they're letting us take shelter in their base. They even saved your life too.**

"And? What's your point?"

**I'm sick and tired of running, William. I don't want to go to the Florida Keys and leave everyone else to rot. Soldier said that he and his team are trying to put an end to all this unnecessary death, and I'm willing to help them in any way I can. I know Zoey will back me up.**

William huffed, running a hand through his hair in frustration. Neither brother talked until Soldier came back and announced that the food was ready.

"Yes!" Luigi whooped, hopping off the cot. "I'm s-starving!"

"Luigi, you're not supposed to be talking!" William called after the teen who was already racing out the infirmary, but came back shortly after.

"D-Don't know… Where to go." Luigi admitted, blushing with embarrassment.

Soldier sighed good-naturally and patted him on the shoulder a few times before moving toward the mess hall with the brothers following suit.


	4. Chapter 4

**STOP! STOP IT RIGHT NOW! DO NOT READ THIS CHAPTER YET 'CAUSE I'M GOING TO NEED YOU GUYS TO GO BACK AND RE-READ THE PREVIOUS CHAPTERS BECAUSE I FIXED THEM, ADDED NEW THINGS, AND IF YOU READ THIS CHAPTER YOU'RE GOING TO GET CONFUSED. SO PLEASE. GO BACK AND RE-READ. IT'LL BE WORTH YOUR WHILE, PROMISE!**

**And here it guys, the long awaited chapter 4. I cannot express how sorry I am for letting you wait. I'll be honest, it was sitting around in my laptop, completed already, but I was waiting for my co-author to look it over before uploading it. After realizing that college is keeping him so busy that he's never really going to get a chance to look over it, I decided to go over and edit some things myself and upload, and since I don't have that much of a watchful eye I'm going to go ahead and apologize for any errors or when it goes past segued to present.**

**We finally get to see all the mercs come into play! My co-author writes as them and, as I stated previously, if they come off OOC or anything like that, please tell us, so he can go back and fix them. But I do want to say that if the mercs _do_ come off OOC I just want you guys to remember that this is RED team of _2009_ and they're going to be the great (or great-great) grandchildren of the original mercs, so don't expect them to act _exactly like_ their great (or great-great) grandfathers. Take Soldier for example, some of you have said that he seemed off (my co-author said he was going to fix this) and there is actually a reason for this that will be explained later in the story.**

**Once again, bolded text is Luigi writing in his journal.**

**Anywhoo~ **

**Go forth and read!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 4<strong>

Luigi decided that he liked Heavy. The Russian had offered to carry him on his shoulder since he was having a hard time keeping steady on his own two feet, and William had the only wheelchair. He appreciated the act of kindness, he really did, but he still politely declined the offer. The brown-haired teen walked beside Heavy, absentmindedly rubbing at his throat. Although the water he had drank earlier had done wonders, it was still throbbing. He could feel it pulse, sting, burn. Of all the Smokers he had encountered, why did the previous one had to go and fuck up his throat? A spark of anger flared up before it vanished as soon as it appeared. His shoulders slumped in defeat. He had no one to blame but himself. If only he had paid better attention to his surroundings. For a second he felt like crying because what if he never sounded normal again, what if this became a permanent, internal scar?

"So, new comrade Luigi is brother to William?"

Heavy speaking distracted him from his misery. He looked up to see blue eyes looking down at him patiently. He nodded his head slowly.

"Today is full of surprises!" The Russian smiled widely as he waddled along. "I vas only child in family. Little lonely sometimes, but I always had Sasha."

That piqued Luigi's curiosity.

"W-Who's..." He grimaced at the pain that flared up as he tried to talk, his voice coming out low and raspy. "...that?"

Heavy hesitated for a moment before responding, his smile replaced by a rather somber expression for a moment. Luigi wondered why. "Sasha vas... Is... She vas my greatest friend in the Motherland since ve was just leetle children."

"Oh. S-So how do y-y-you like it–it out h-here?" Luigi asked, changing the subject since talking about Sasha made the mercenary sad.

Heavy shrugged. "Is good, I guess. Hotter than I am used to, but not terrible. Now, sandy country Egypt; that was sad day!"

Luigi would've asked if he really went to Egypt, but the sound of someone happily chanting caught his attention. Heavy led him around a corner and into the mess hall where he saw two things: men who were unfamiliar to him, excluding Soldier, Scout, Sniper, and Medic, sat a long table conversing and Sabella bouncing from foot-to-foot in front of a doorway.

"Food! Food! Food! Food~!" she was singing.

"Sable?" Luigi called over.

Perking up at the sound of her name, the woman turned to him. "Luigi!" she gasped happily, scurrying over and latching onto his shirt. She shook him a little. "There's _food_ behind that door! And guess what else! They actually had hot cocoa and marshmallows!"

He smiled. "That's great."

"Howdy, William!" a short man wearing goggles and a hardhat suddenly called out, waving.

"Huh?" Confusion painted Sabella's face. "William? But…"

"Surprise." William said as he wheeled out from behind Luigi.

She covered her mouth, her light brown eyes widening. She shakily walked over and started touching him all over his face as if she couldn't believe it was really him. She started tearing up as she told him, "Don't you _ever_ do something like that again, okay?"

He smiled and drew her into a hug, briefly hiding his face in her hair. "I promise."

Sabella tightened her hold on him as she began to softly cry, her shoulders shaking, before she pulled back after a while, wiping away her tears.

"Guys, come and meet Engineer," William told them, jerking his head toward the goggles wearing man. "He won't bite."

After telling Heavy that he'd talk to him later, Luigi headed over with Sabella following. Engineer flashed them a friendly smile, extending his hand that didn't have a glove on it.

"Nice to meet cha. I'm Engineer, Engie fer short."

"Hey!" Sabella eagerly shook his hand. "I'm Sabella!"

Luigi shook his hand as well.

**Hi. My name's Luigi. Why do they call you Engineer?**

"Because I solve problems," the Texan responded, leaning back in his seat. "Not problems like: what is beauty, because that would fall into the conundrums of philosophy. No, I solve practical problems." He chuckled to himself. "Like, how do I keep a horde of slobbering bastards from tearing me a superfluous new behind? The answer, build a gun. And if that don't work, use more gun. How do I keep that horde of aforementioned bastards away in the first place? Build a high frequency pulse emitter that causes them so much pain that they would rather stay away then try to rush at it."

At first, Luigi didn't believe what Engineer was telling him. A high frequency pulse emitter that repelled Infected? The Texan was pulling his leg, right? But... It made sense in a way. That would explain why he hand't seen a single Infected on their way to the RED base.

"That's genius!" Sabella exclaimed with a grin.

William snickered at the comment. "Engie is the go-to guy whenever you have a problem."

Engineer shrugged, still grinning. "It's what I do, son. It's what I do."

**Can you tell me about rest of the guys here?** Luigi curiously asked.

"Over there is Spy," Engineer nodded toward a masked man dressed in a red, pin-striped suit. His voice was low as if he disliked uttering the very word. "He's a sneaky French agent that can disguise himself as anyone he damn well pleases, and a destroyer of other people's machines." He added the last part sourly, glancing at the man who was nonchalantly lighting a cigarette.

The way he held himself, his slow, deliberate movements... This was a man that required respect. He didn't ask for it. One gave it to him.

**He's French? That's pretty cool.**

William snorted at Luigi's comment. "I would stay away from him."

Luigi tipped his head to one side. **Why, he doesn't seem too bad.**

"Well believe me, he can be the most cold hearted snake you've ever seen." Engineer told him. "Just watch yourself when dealing with him, if nothin' else."

**Okay.** The teen directed his attention to figure wearing a fire-retardant suit and gas mask. **Who's that?**

The Texan glanced toward the teen's man-in-question. "That's Pyro."

**Is there anything I need to know about him?**

The RED cast another look toward Pyro, the man sitting further away from everyone else. Or was everyone else sitting away from him?

"He's insane. Pure and simple, son. That man over there can go from calm and separated to..." Engineer trailed off, shuddering.

_He doesn't seem like it._ Luigi thought to himself with a frown. He eyed Pyro or a little bit longer before glancing over at a man with an eyepatch over his right eye. **Who's he?**

"Demoman," was the answer. "That guy is drunk at least ninety percent of the time, and we still let him handle explosives." The Texan chuckled. "Still, he's a good man; always the life of the party."

**Good to know.** Luigi smiled. **Thanks for telling me about your teammates.**

Engineer nodded then glanced down the table. "Now what do you think is takin' the food so ding-dang long?" He took several exaggerated sniffs, breathing in the delicious aroma.

"Pyro just went into the kitchen, mate. It's probably on its way." Sniper casually replied, coffee mug in hand.

"Oh, God, food!" Sabella actually drooled a little at that.

Luigi shared in her delight. **You would not believe how long its been since I've had a decent meal!**

William laughed before asking, "How's your throat, Luigi?"

Luigi frowned, looking down. **I... I don't know.**

"I'm sure it'll get better."

**Will it? What if it doesn't though?**

"Medic won't let that happen," Louis reassured.

Luigi's shoulders sagged. **I wouldn't even be in this situation if I had paid better attention.**

"Hey, don't go beating yourself up about that!" William chastised. "It's not like you have eyes on the back of your head."

**Still…**

Pyro soon came out of the kitchen with a large pot in his hands, setting it on a shorter table before heading back into the kitchen, returning with several spices and bowls.

"Mmmph hnng huda huda."

Heavy and Sabella were the first to rush over and serve themselves.

Luigi had a baffled look on his face. "W-What did he… Just say?"

"I'll be honest, mate, no bloody idea." Sniper responded, getting to his feet. "But we figure he's saying: 'Come and get it.' or something."

"O-Oh."

The teen then followed his older brother over to the table, grabbing himself a bowl. As everyone ate the surprisingly spicy stew, conversations were all around. Most of the talk was aimed at the Survivors though.

"How bad is it in the rest of the country?" Soldier asked.

"Everything's going to hell," Sabella answered quietly.

"So no different from here or anywhere else?" Sniper dryly noted.

"Pretty much."

Conversation died off for a while as everyone focused on their meals. William soon spoke up. Sabella gave him her attention when he leaned over to her.

"How are the others?" Worry painted his facial expression.

"Well, Louis's leg is still bothering him, a Tank broke Zoey's leg, you already know about Luigi, and we almost froze to death, but now we're fine." Sabella told him with a smile.

"Louis is the one with the tie, right?" Soldier asked, trying to make up for his darker question.

"Yuppers!"

The mercenary nodded and continued: "I know the man I was speaking with is Bill. Good man. I gonna guess from his outfit a Vietnam veteran?"

"Yes!" William grinned. "You should see him when he goes into one of his Vietnammy moods! He's a crazy old son of a bitch!"

He started laughing at the thought, and Luigi soon joined in.

"It sounds like zhis Bill would get along just fine with Soldier."

All heads turned to Spy. The Frenchman seemed to have finally decided to say something, but for whatever reason was unknown. He usually only participated in conversations he found intelligent, and ones about people were generally not part of that list.

William blinked. "Uh… Yeah."

"Aw, man, I _love_ showers!"

"What? Francis loving things? Impossible."

Someone, it sounded like Zoey, chuckled at that.

Luigi, William, and Sabella exchanged amused glances. Bill, Francis, Louis, and Zoey were soon stumbling into the mess hall. They stopped and stared at them all eating before Zoey's brown eyes swiveled over toward the brothers and young woman. She gave out a loud gasp and covered her mouth, her eyes widening in disbelief. The brown-haired girl shakily pointed out William when Bill, Francis, and Louis gave her questioning looks. Their eyes widened as well. A choking sound came from Bill.

"W-William..." He said the name as if he wasn't sure it was really the dark blue-eyed boy. "You... You're alive."

"As far as I know, yeah." William smiled.

"Why did you go and restart the generator all by yourself like that?!" Bill got straight to the point, regret showing on his face and in his eyes.

"Bill," William stared straight into the veteran's eyes. "I couldn't let you do it. I'm sorry, but I just couldn't."

The veteran gave a shaky sigh, closing his eyes and turning his head away. Louis gave a cheer.

"Whoo!" He excitedly scurried over, followed by Francis and Zoey. "The Unstoppables are _back,_ baby!"

Zoey hugged him closely. "It wasn't the same without you." She then pulled back so Francis could greet him.

"I knew those vampires couldn't kill you." The biker gave William a hard slap on the back, resulting in the teen falling out of his wheelchair and landing face-first on the ground. "My bad."

"Dummkopf! Don't go agitating his injuries!" Medic yelled, causing Francis to jump a bit.

With Zoey and Louis' help, the seventeen-year-old got back onto his wheelchair. He suddenly found himself surrounded by his teammates as they forced him into a group hug, Bill shortly joining them. Nearby the REDs observed the reunited group silently, their expressions giving nothing away.

"Seeing as how you're all not freezing to death anymore," Soldier finally spoke. "Welcome to the RED base."

The Survivors pulled apart, William's face red with embarrassment. Bill turned to the man.

"We're glad to be here," he said. "But I–We need to know..." He gestured toward William. "Where did you find him?"

Medic rose to his feet, strolling over toward the Survivors. "Ve found him, in all intents and purposes, dead on the side of the road." The doctor paused, pushing his glasses up a bit as he recalled the situation. "Normally, ve vould have let him be, thinking zhat he vas only a corpse, but ze fact zhat Infected were constantly investigating his body was enough to stir up our–" He stopped again, chuckling. "–I mean _my_ curiosity. And to my surprise, he vas not entirely dead! A defibrillator and several med-kits were enough to keep him alive enough for us to get him here." The German then smirked, his cheery mood a bit creepy.

Bill nodded gratefully. "Thank you for saving him."

"There's more," Sabella said. "Tell them, Soldier."

Louis blinked with confusion. "Tell us what?"

Soldier looked over the gathered Survivors and finished the rest of his drink before turning to Pyro, nodding. The masked man's only response was to get to his feet and head back into the kitchen. That done, Soldier turned his attention to them.

"I already told this to Luigi and William, but you are all welcome to stay here at the base for a while. Rest up, get some real food in you, get your wounds looked at, and catch up on some sleep. You'll be safe from those bastards as well while you're here, and I don't just mean the zombies."

Bill smiled. "That's nice of you, but we'll stay just for tonight." he told the RED. "You all probably had enough dealing with William for so long."

"Hey!" William glared at the war veteran, clearly offended. "I was unconscious the whole time and when I was awake I didn't get into any trouble." He turned to the REDs. "Right guys?"

Medic his threw up his hands dramatically, sighing. "Oh, he vas terrible. So polite and easy to carry a conversation vith." The doctor put a hand to his forehead. "The horror!"

The Survivors rolled their eyes at the display in amusement.

"He was no trouble at all." Soldier chuckled.

"That's good," Louis commented. "He's usually a handful. Him _and_ Luigi."

The two brothers grinned at that and bumped fists.

Francis grunted and looked over at Bill and Zoey. "Remember that time back in Riverside where they made it their duty to collect all nine of those figurines?"

"Oh–" Zoey began.

"–Yeah." Bill finished.

Sabella raised an eyebrow. "Huh? What? Figurines? How come you never told me this story?"

There was a collective rising of eyebrows from the REDs, all only guessing what kind of trouble the teens had gotten into over something simple–or just maybe stupid–like that. But no questions were raised as Pyro came out of the kitchen again, the cart once more holding just enough food for the four new guests.

"Well timed." Sniper noted, taking a quick gulp of coffee before rising from his seat. "Pardon me for a bit. Got a little jarate practice to do."

The Australian casually left the room, a tune being whistled as he went down the hall and vanished behind a corner. Silence met his words, the Survivors not quite sure what to say.

"Just don't ask." Soldier snorted. "You don't wanna know."

So they didn't.

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><p><strong>Btw, the figurines they were talking about is the TF2 easter egg in L4D found on the back of a cereal box.<strong>

**So how was it? Did you guys like it? Was it worth the long-ass wait? Tell me in your review! And don't forget to add your critiques as well if you have them! I promise the next chapter won't take as long (*whispers* It's already done too.)**


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